


Dreams

by Nebulad



Series: Witch Doctor [2]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Dreams, F/M, Fluff, Magic, Other, flirty banter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 16:39:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12016782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nebulad/pseuds/Nebulad
Summary: “Aren’t you afraid?” they demanded without thinking.“Of what?”“Fire? Burning to death? Pain?” They didn’t expect him to laugh like he did, not quite bitter but definitely with some sort of something that they couldn’t place. He knew something they didn’t.





	Dreams

The swirl of stars cleared in their eyes and for all the world, Jhend expected to see Asra. They always saw Asra in their dreams, and couldn’t tell if they were seeking him out for some subconscious purpose or if he was… guiding them somewhere. If he was, he didn’t seem particularly aware of it, or at least not inclined to tell them so; and what else was new?

Instead, of course, they found themself somewhere dark enough that they couldn’t identify any actual location even insofar as what the place looked like. It felt interior, and they could barely see a foot in front of them. The air was smoky and damp smelling, and god even _magic_ couldn’t penetrate the darkness. That was a convenient excuse, then, for when they walked face-first into Julian’s back.

He spun around like he’d been electrocuted, further disturbed when he managed to make them out in the darkness. They stiffened— a dream of their own, then, and who knew what would happen. _Please don’t be a nightmare,_ they begged quietly. There’d been too many of those since they began their stay at the palace, and Julian— charming, handsome Julian— was too easy a target. “This is new,” he said as they allowed the silence to drag on.

How strange that their mind was so good at inventing dialogue for him. If this was a nightmare it wasn’t a very good one yet— he seemed normal, which was to say _not_ murderous. “No kidding,” they offered, and he seemed to be struck by the same thought they had. “Nice… place. Where are we?”

“I don’t— maybe you should... go? Can you go?” He frowned, and they got the impression that he was trying to divine what sort of creature they were. “This is about to get very… _upsetting,_ if history has taught me anything, and maybe you wouldn’t want to hang around for it.”

“I don’t think I can leave.” They’d never been good at that, waking up mid-dream. Usually their body was content to let them suffer through a full, if insufficient, sleep cycle. “Do _you_ know how to get out?”

He grinned, flirtatious but on edge. “If I knew the way out we wouldn’t be here— can I ask a strange question?” They nodded, inching a little closer to him as something creaked. He didn’t seem phased. “Are you… here?”

“This weird location thing is starting to make my head hurt, Julian.”

“Believe me, you’ll find no one more sympathetic, but— it’s just that Asra used to do this, sometimes. I’m only asking if you’re a dream or… you.”

They frowned. “What does that— are _you_ you?”

“ _I’m_ me. It’s my nightmare, after all.” He gestured around and they put a hand on their head. This place _was_ unfamiliar which usually only happened when they dream walked. They only ever did so with Asra, though, which made them think that Asra had been the one doing it. “You look upset.”

“I _really_ don’t know what’s happening.” _Could_ they be the one doing it? Asra had mentioned that _he_ wasn’t doing anything, but they’d just assumed he was acting subconsciously or… maybe somehow Faust was doing it. Magic was confusing and only worked most of the time, so it was easy to just compartmentalise it and ignore it, or explain it away.

He sort of slouched, trying to get on eye level with them only they weren’t short enough for him to kneel or tall enough for him to simply look down. Not their fault; he was impressively tall and they were usually very… _into_ that. “Do you do this a lot, on accident?”

“ _No._ I mean— yes, I guess, but I thought Asra was doing it.” They straightened up a little, suddenly _very_ conscious of how this was actually Julian and not a dream— it was a little disappointing, honestly. They had to be more conscious of how they behaved. “This is just… this was an accident. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Honestly, the way this usually happens I’m grateful. It seems like everything is stuck around you.” He looked around— or they figured he did, because he straightened up and moved around a little. “Usually the whole place is on fire by now.”

They didn’t ask if that had anything to do with Lucio’s death, and he didn’t volunteer the information. “I wonder how I ended up here though,” they said instead, still self-consciously keeping near him. They followed down a long hallway that echoed with the clicking of their boots.

“Thinking of me?” he asked with a slow grin, and… they had to concede the point. Usually they were stewing on Asra’s newest abandonment of them that had somehow led to this whole mess, but… this time, their thoughts had gone in a different direction. “Silence is telling, Jhend.”

“Why did it have to be me? Maybe I was summoned.”

The noise he made was half a laugh, but mostly embarrassed. “Don’t try to turn it on me.”

“You can just say if you were. I won’t tell,” they teased. He didn’t respond but did shove them a little, gently— they fell behind just far enough to fully realise that they were actually walking somewhere. “Where are we going?”

“Out, hopefully. After going through all that trouble to summon you, it’d be a shame if I couldn’t see you properly.” They couldn’t _see_ it, but they were certain he was giving them _that_ smile. The one that probably started this whole fiasco in the first place as they tried to perfectly etch it in their mind’s eye, all crooked and smug.

“Usually you need an object to summon,” they said, almost… trying to talk themself into a corner. They had his papers, his books, his fucking indecipherable writing.

“I just gathered some of your favourite things: whiskey, my side of the bed—”

“It’s not _your_ side if you’re not laying in it,” they protested. He always complained that they forced him to the left when they came to the Raven to drink. Inevitably they would move upstairs to get away from the noise and inevitably they would drink from the bed, and somehow he staked some invisible claim on the right where they were _certain_ he didn’t rightly sleep anyway.

“And you lost an earring when you were there last.” They reached up self-consciously before remembering that the number of earrings they conceptualised themself with and the number they actually had would be… different. “One of the smaller gold triangles.”

“I know the one. Can I have it back?” They came to the end of a long hallway, and he paused at the door. There was something on the other side which the setting didn’t seem to want to give form or shape to yet, but it definitely produced light.

He smiled, loose and careless. He still looked so, _so_ tired, even in his dreams. “I guess you’ll just have to come and see me to find out,” he said, throwing open the door. His chin lifted when he saw what was behind it. “Ah. There’s the fire.”

Enormous orange flames leapt towards them and Jhend scrambled back— Julian leaned casually on the doorway instead, staring out at the engulfed room with the indifference of someone who wasn’t quite as scared of the scene as he expected to be. “Well, I can see you anyway. You look good, this light is very flattering,” he said breezily.

Taking a few tentative steps forward back to his side, they tried to seem as unaffected as he did. “Charmer,” they offered, tense as a wild beast regardless of how they wanted to seem.

“Tell you what, Jhend— I’m a notoriously light sleeper, and I get the feeling that the only thing tying you down here— magically speaking— is me. I’ll go ahead and wake up and if all goes as planned, you should be able to get out of here.” He turned to them, still looking so _calm._

“Aren’t you afraid?” they demanded without thinking.

“Of what?”

“Fire? Burning to death? Pain?” They didn’t expect him to laugh like he did, not quite _bitter_ but definitely with some sort of _something_ that they couldn’t place. He knew something they didn’t.

“No to all three. Nightmares can get terribly boring this way, but I’m sure I’ll have something new cooked up the next time you visit my subconscious.” He looked down at his hands casually, at this point showing off how banal this whole experience was.

“I’m sorry,” they offered stiffly. “I _really_ didn’t mean to end up here.”

If he smiled any wider his face would split. “I didn’t say I minded; in fact I distinctly remember saying you were pretty.”

“You say a _lot_ of things, Julian. For my own sanity I ignore some of them.”

“Cranky when you’re tired, aren’t you?” He pawed a hand through his hair— no gloves, this time, which seemed scandalous enough for some reason that they averted their eyes as soon as they noticed— and looked over at the fire again. “Come see me for that earring sometime.”

He blinked hard and the whole room shifted. “I’ll be around,” they agreed, watching the shadows melt away around them. There wasn’t much to say after that, so they just… looked at him. He was smiling still; they wondered if that meant they would dream about him again once they fell back asleep.

. . . . .

“Do you ever have _good_ dreams?” Jhend asked as Julian secured their earring back in its place.

His expression was mild, only half paying attention; probably tired, after the poor rest the night before. They supposed his eye didn’t get so dark through full nights of sleep. “Sometimes.”

“What are those like?” It’d been bothering them since they’d jerked awake in their palace room, with Faust curled up in a pile near their head. It seemed uncomfortably likely, in the dead of night, that maybe Julian had nothing but nightmares. It felt immeasurably sad to them.

He finished clicking the piece together in their ear and brought his hands back, fingertips brushing the side of their throat as he moved. He wasn’t wearing gloves again and they turned their eyes, then frowned. He never took his gloves off when they were there.

“Some are better than others,” he offered with a knowing little smirk.

**Author's Note:**

> [My writing blog is here](http://nebulaad.tumblr.com) and [my commissions post](http://nebulaad.tumblr.com/post/162182264019/writing-commissions) lives there.
> 
> This was mostly borne of frustration that I kept dreaming of Asra. I mean it's fair because it's the prologue, no routes have been chosen, and I shouldn't be allowed to forget that a main character exists offscreen, but at the same time I am banging both my fists on the table shouting _let me dream about Julian_. Also I _might_ be keeping this series AO3 exclusive just because it isn't doing so hot on Tumblr and I get embarrassed if something is up for too long without notes.
> 
> Also you heard it here first, people. This is the first time in a fic that I've allowed myself to write the work "smirk". I hate it. I hate the word so bad but eventually I had to admit that there wasn't another word for what I wanted to say. Leer was too flirty, trying to circumvent it by using "smug" was too many words, and grin didn't have the right image. So here I am, in shame, a stain on my good house.


End file.
